Vanity Fair
by Scelerata
Summary: Sometimes you need to pick your battles. [2009]


"…hot damn."

"Hm?"

Angeal half looked up from his book, cocking his head slightly. He shifted his shoulder blades against the heavy weight balanced up against his back, in hopes of grabbing his partner's attention without having to expend any extra effort speaking. Zack seemed to get the hint, and held the magazine he had been laxly flipping through up, dangling it behind his own head, and letting it flop in front of Angeal's nose. The older man leaned his head back a little, the back of his neck brushing Zack's warmly, as he reached up and plucked the limp booklet from his grasp. He slipped the thumb of his other hand between the pages of his own reading material, and took a moment to glance over the model spread out over two pages of the magazine. Clad in daisy dukes ad a tank top, she was advertising skin cream, or some such nonsense. There was a pale blue bottle clutched to her ample bosom, her slender fingers partially obscuring the ShinRa logo on the front of the bottle, supposedly the focal point of the shot, but looking over the ad, Angeal felt more like he was looking at soft core porn than a lotion advertisement. Scowling, he closed the magazine and rolled it up in his palm, thoroughly unimpressed with the almost trashy display.

"Do you read this garbage just to leer at women?" He questioned, handing it back to Zack in a manner similar to how he had received it. He felt Zack shrug behind him, the young man scoffing loudly.

"I like the articles." He defended, flipping the magazine back open. "They're…fun to read."

"My apologies." Angeal murmured, rolling his eyes. "Tell me, what's the make-up trend this month?"

Zack fell silent a moment, then scoffed again, crossing his arms. "…you're a jerk." He finally muttered, and leaned back heavily against Angeal, letting his entire weight fall against his companion. Angeal groaned, and closed his book calmly, setting it down on the bedside table. Clearing his throat, he pushed roughly against Zack, causing him to yelp loudly as he was bent at the waist and held in place firmly by nothing but the older man's weight. Angeal didn't even blink, folding his hands behind his head as he laid heavily on his companion.

"Well if you insist." He murmured, closing his eyes. Zack thrashed under him, but made little progress in actually dislodging himself.

"Get off of me, you ass!" Zack groaned. His nose was buried in his calf, giving his voice a nasal twang. Angeal snickered, apparently finding the situation hilarious, which was more than Zack could say for himself.

"You'll have to ask more politely than that." He scolded, and Zack could just hear the amusement in his voice.

"Please get off me, you ass." He corrected himself, putting emphasis on both the first and last word. Angeal tsk'd loudly, and put more weight against Zack, much to his dismay.

"Try again." He instructed.

"Please!" Zack begged, whining this time. Angeal sighed, and slowly sat up, listening to the 2nd Class pant as his lungs were decompressed. Taking pity on him, Angeal shifted himself away from his companion. Zack glanced behind himself as the warmth and weight withdrew from his skin, and his mako blue eyes caught Angeal's matching orbs. Angeal spiked a brow, and Zack frowned, before flopping backwards, landing heavily to sprawl over both the older man's bed and lap.

"Why do I hang around you?" He questioned out loud, arms splayed out. Angeal stared at him a moment, then mimicked him, sprawling over the bed as well, his legs and head hanging off the edges of the twin-sized mattress.

"Because you can't find anyone else to put up with you." Angeal teased.

"Yeah right." Zack snickered. "So why do you stick around then?"

"I pity you." Angeal murmured, then grinned, as Zack rolled over to rest stomach-to-stomach over him.

"That's one hell of a pity party."

"Well you're one hell of a charity case."

Zack tilted his head up briefly, and spiked a brow, eyes glittering. Eyes locked, they stared at each other a moment, then they both burst out laughing. Zack buried his face in the sheets, as Angeal folded his hands over the small of his back, and groaned peacefully.

"Thanks."


End file.
